Batman: Days of the Dark Knight

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We kick off another multi-day feature exploring the significant changes coming with Bruce Wayne's return.

By Richard George

It seems like we just learned that Bruce Wayne would be trapped in time and Dick Grayson would take his place. Here we are, a short year later, and DC is preparing for Wayne's return, complete with sweeping creative team changes and a couple new series debuts.

Needless to say, it can be a bit confusing to keep track of all these books and what's worth reading. That's where we come in. Over the next couple weeks, we'll be profiling six of the biggest Batman titles - Batman Inc, Batman and Robin, Batman, Detective Comics, Batwoman and Batman: The Dark Knight. And by profile we mean we'll be bringing you the interviews you want to read and the preview pages you want to scrutinize. Come November, the entire Batman family is changing up - brace yourself.

Kicking off our tour of all things Batman, we chatted with group editor Mike Marts. Marts has helmed the franchise for many years, and has proven instrumental in coordinating, guiding and expanding upon a character that has been largely guided by one man's creative vision - Grant Morrison. We asked Marts how he approaches the broad, sweeping changes that seem to be hitting the character as of late, and how he determines which creative teams suit which series.

"There's never really an exact science to it," Marts told us over the phone. "With the Batman books over the past few years we've been fortunate enough to have Grant Morrison be the architect of the mega storyline. And he's been great in providing us with tent pole moments in the overall storyline where we can put a stake in the ground and say 'Okay, this is a great moment where we can do some new things.' The last time around was when Bruce went away, when Dick Grayson took over as being Batman.

"This time around, it's the obvious return of Bruce Wayne and what he'll do with the Bat-family next. So with Grant we've had those key moments, and from there you look at two different areas. One being the creative personnel – who would we like to work with and who has been great to work with? Who would be great to try out? So you look at who could be those team players who could come in and tell great Batman stories and contribute to the bigger picture.

"You also look at the overall story needs. What characters are going to break out, like Damian Wayne or Azrael? Or you take a look at what kind of story events and threads might spin out of the big picture. So it's those two things, the creative and the story, that give us a road map on where we can go with things."

The biggest change a year and a half ago brought Dick Grayson into the fold as a replacement for Bruce Wayne's Batman. As time went on, fans really latched onto Grayson's subtle differences as the Dark Knight, and upon announcing that Wayne would return, DC was also clear that Grayson would still protect the citizens of Gotham City. But how did Marts juggle the franchise knowing he now had two groups of fans to satisfy? How did he balance his titles between two Batmen?

"With Batman and Batman and Robin, we basically kept things the way they were," Marts said. "Batman already starred Dick, and in Batman and Robin we had that great dynamic between Dick and Damian. With those two titles we didn't want to interrupt the story flow and foundation we had built with Dick as Batman.

"With Batman Inc, which is Grant's book, we knew he wanted to take Bruce Wayne center stage, so that's how we decided Bruce would be in that book. The same with David Finch. When we brought him into the Bat-office, we knew he had a strong desire to work with Bruce Wayne, so we went in that direction.

"With Detective… that was sort of a jump ball. Previously it had been Batwoman, so we could have gone either way. And just in some discussions with Scott Snyder, we settled on it being Dick Grayson. I think it was because most of the stories would be taking place in Gotham City, and as we get into things, you'll see why that decision applies to Grayson being in Detective."

We chatted more with Marts about the concepts behind each of the six titles we were planning to profile, but you'll see his commentary on those books soon enough. One of the questions we most wanted answered was regarding the scope of this "Incorporated" concept. Just how big was it? How global would this get - and how long might fans expect this storyline to last?

"Things will start to expand in a major way, not just in terms of story concept but in terms of villains and supporting cast, plus the arenas in which these stories take place," Marts told us. "Up to this point almost everything has revolved around Gotham City, with a few exceptions. But with Batman Inc and stories spinning out of that, you'll really start to see things evolve into a much wider range of stories in terms of where they take place. We'll really be taking things global. And this is a big enough idea that we'll have to go beyond 2011 with it."

This is just a taste of what we have in store for you. In the coming days we'll be talking to the likes of David Finch, Scott Snyder and, yes, Grant Morrison. Plus some shiny new art for you to drool over... by the end of this, you should be armed and ready to dive into the new world order of Batman. The changes start on November 3, with Batman: The Return, a 56-page special written by Grant Morrison and drawn by David Finch. From there new series will start to launch and new creative teams will arrive. Be prepared!